Fire Dance
by Sveedish Chef
Summary: The students take a trip to California for an athletic competition, looking forward to visiting Mizuki. Nakatsu's past is churned up in the process and what was supposed to be a fun reunion turns into a painful and terrifying situation. No romance.
1. Sea of Embers

Kayashima had his hands raised shoulder-length, staring into the sky above the airplane

**Hello, you wonderful person.**

**So this is based on the Japanese Film adaptation of the Hana Kimi manga. I've never read the manga, nor have I seen the Taiwanese version of the film. I don't know the first thing about mangas. I barley know the first thing about what happened in the screen version, either, because I get confused so easily. But I loved the characters! Especially Kayashima and Nakatsu. So I deviated from the setting and I'm taking them to California because I'm lazy and I want to work in home ground. This fic isn't going to focus on romance. Rather, it's going to play with the characters as they find themselves in some strange and often dangerous situations. I started this on a whim and may end it the same way, so if you have any suggestions, por favor, let me know.**

**This chapter seems a bit boring. I'm sorry. But hey, it's an airplane ride, what are you gonna do.**

**I disclaim!**

**Fire Dance**

**Ch. 1: Sea of Embers**

Kayashima had his hands raised shoulder-length, staring into the sky above the airplane. Nakatsu paused before entering the walkway that led to the entrance of the huge craft, stepping aside to let a group of other young men pass. Kayashima's ticket slipped from his fingers and drifted down, swiffed to the side from the breeze created by people sashaying by. Nakatsu bent to pick up the slip of paper, wondering what his roommate was seeing this time, a bit nervous because Kayashima's face looked rather on the dire side. He pushed the entranced boy out of the way of the boarding people.

"Dropped your ticket," he said, trying to give it back. Kayashima didn't respond. He was still staring through the window at the plane. As always, Nakatsu turned and looked in the same direction, and, as always, didn't see anything.

"What?" When he turned back, Kayashima was staring at something much closer. It looked as if Kayashima was staring above Nakatsu's head. Nakatsu sighed in exasperation.

"Man, I am _not_ still in love with her, nothing's going to happen!"

"I know," his roommate replied eerily.

"Well… if you're not seeing pink, what _are _you seeing?"

"Nakatsu, my friend, I don't think this trip is a good idea."

"Why? What?"

"I see a bad aura."

"We're going to California. It's going to be great. Everybody's going to have fun. What could go wrong?" Kayashima looked a bit annoyed.

"I don't know what could go wrong, but I know what I see. I see badness. Over this whole situation, but especially over you." Kayashima stared at Nakatsu for a moment. He held out his hand to receive his ticket.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't tell you that. I know you're going on this trip regardless of what I say. I shouldn't have let this rest on your mind." Kayashima looked unsure of himself, slightly sheepish, and very troubled. Nakatsu put on a smile.

"Ah, don't look so down. Try to have fun!" He headed up the ramp, giving up half his ticket to the ticket person. Kayashima followed. He reflected on Nakatsu's smile. Of course his friend was troubled. Nakatsu always did such a terrible job hiding when he was troubled. He did a good job of putting on a positive face for everyone, but it was Kayashima's belief that the smile was never quite genuine enough to be convincing. It told Kayashima that Nakatsu cared enough about his friends not to bother them with his own emotions, and maybe people fell for it – it most certainly didn't work on Kayashima, though. He shouldn't have told Nakatsu about the aura. Now he'd be dwelling on it the whole trip. What if it _was _nothing?

Nakatsu took a seat next to Nanba, wishing their principle had been more relenting in their request to be able to switch seats once they boarded the airplane. Nanba even had the window. It wouldn't be so bad, except Nakatsu knew he couldn't risk falling asleep now. He'd probably end up leaning on Nanba's shoulder, which would most likely result in some injury inflicted upon him by Namba. He sighed in relief as Kayashima sat on his other side. Maybe he would be able to fall asleep after all, as long as he made sure to lean to his left. Kayashima wouldn't mind being fallen asleep upon. It's not as if that had never happened before.

_I do not still love her!_ Hah. He wished he could tell that to himself truthfully with as much conviction as he'd used when he told that to Kayashima. He wasn't going to let anything happen this trip. They were traveling to California to compete in an international athletics competition, and it happened to be close to where Mizuki lived (Nakatsu was sure that was the reason they ended up there in the first place), and he refused to ruin things for Mizuki and Sano. He wanted to be their friend. Clearly anything romantic wasn't going to work out. Clearly things would just be happier and better if he removed himself from that aspect of things. Not that he was ever in it in the first place.

He sighed. Looking to his left, he noticed Kayashima staring at him. Kayashima probably knew Nakatsu had lied to him. But Kayashima was so understanding – he probably didn't mind. Slightly embarrassed, Nakatsu looked out the window. He tried to occupy his mind with something else. The captain of the plane started speaking. The voice droned in his head for a while about how happy they were to be servicing the group of students today.

"We'll be touching down in the Honolulu Airport in approximately seven hours and twenty minutes. At that point, those continuing on to New York, please remain on board. Those going on to different destinations, please exit at that time. We hope you have a good flight, and thank you for traveling our lines." There were two flights? Nakatsu hadn't known that. He'd also never been to Hawaii, so he allowed himself to become excited for a minute before realizing that landing in the Honolulu airport wasn't the same as experiencing Hawaii. He sighed. In a few minutes the craft had woven its way to the main runway and the momentary excitement induced by taking into the air at extreme speed had faded away like the smoggy atmosphere they were quickly leaving behind. _Osaka._ The city held many memories.

And that was as far as Nakatsu allowed himself to get. Sure, many memories. As it did for everyone on this plane. You stay somewhere, you get memories. Obviously. But his were different.

No, no, no. How did he know that? How did he know no-one else had weird, terrifying memories linked to the city? And why was he making himself think about them now? A slight glance to his left confirmed that Kayashima was again staring at him, concern in his eyes. He should be used to the staring by now. Looking out the window without leaning too far over Nanba, he stared ahead at the approaching expanse of glittering blue ocean. He'd never seen the ocean like this before. He'd been to California once, but the flight had taken place at night. He'd flown west from Japan plenty of times but the flights had been short, not high enough to get them all the way out of the smog and give him a view of the sea. He couldn't believe it was so beautiful. The sea had always been a romanticized and totally made-up entity for him. The sea he knew was brown, slick, at the best of times a foggy kind of blue that looked nice from a distance but up close was full of churned-up loam and fish scales and beer cans crushed on the foreheads of men who thought doing so made them look like anything other than a complete idiot that had no concern for others or their environment. But here, or rather, way down there right now – he didn't need to get close to believe that dolphins did, in fact, dash about in crystal waters, and rays of sun easily pierced down into the depths, shedding light onto a million kinds of beings that dwelled in the brackish waters of the Pacific. He wondered how high the waves were down there, and if the water was as warm as it looked.

Kayashima suppressed jerking with the shock of something touching lightly on his right shoulder. He knew it was Nakatsu's head but it didn't matter. Instincts. What made people jump when they were surprised? Where did that reflex come from, and what was its purpose?

He glanced down at the spray of rusty hair threatening to poke him in the ear, then let his eyes stop on Nanba. Nanba was relieved that Nakatsu had fallen to the left instead of to the right. Although, very secretly, he was slightly disappointed at the same time – Nanba would have enjoyed giving Nakatsu a non-verbal reminder of what he thought of him.

Nanba caught Kayashima's eye and glanced away, a bit guiltily and not without any small amount of annoyance. The funny thing was Nanba thought Kayashima had been reading his thoughts. Kayashima had, in fact, only been reading his expressions, something simple enough to do and also something that required no amount of ESP.

Before falling asleep, Kayashima knew Nakatsu had been thinking troubled thoughts, but had, as usual, been trying to suppress them even from himself, tried to turn them positive. So unlike Sano, who sat two rows up from them and was boiling away in his own pool of negativity. He was excited to see Mizuki again but also very nervous that things wouldn't work out, and that Nakatsu would get in the way, and that his performance in the competition wouldn't be up to snuff. And he dwelt on these thoughts. He'd probably dwell on these thoughts all the seven hours to Honolulu, if not the other five it'd take to get to Los Angeles. And beyond. He felt bad for Sano. He wished he could put his mind at ease and help him be a happier person. Sano was so often gloomy. He was much better than he had been, but he still had many moments where he was sunken in depressing thoughts.

Nakatsu was a very strange case, especially put next to Sano. One of the happier people Kayashima knew, Nakatsu harbored a more distressing past than Sano did, than most people at the school did, and no-one would ever guess it because Nakatsu hid it so well. Kayashima had never asked him about it because it wasn't his place to know, and Nakatsu had never needed solace or advice about it. He did, however, have nightmares about it once in a while. Of the nights Kayashima would lay in the dark, awake, communicating with the spirits, sometimes Nakatsu would cry out, awake, and quickly silence himself. And then he'd lay there for a few minutes, trying to calm himself. Kayashima could always tell when Nakatsu had fallen back asleep when the alarming splash of fiery orange and red of his nightmare aura would slip back into the usual cool colors of peaceful sleep.

He wished he himself could sleep right now. He was a bit tired, as the spirits had been a bit irritatingly bothersome last night, but he wasn't going to tell them so. He couldn't sleep now because everyone's auras were strong now, displaying a veritable aurora of colors in front of him, around him.

Sometimes he wished he could be ignorant. Not be concerned with how everyone was feeling, not have to make choices about when to let things lay and when to interfere. It was a constant struggle with him. Should he confront Nakatsu about his nightmares? Should he have said something earlier about the fact that Mizuki was a girl? Ignorance would indeed be bliss. But now that he knew what it was like to be this way, he was grateful. He liked helping people.

Nanba was glaring sideways at him.

Some people didn't like being helped, though. Some people thought he was a freak. Most people, in fact, found his very presence eerie and disturbing. As if he himself was a lost spirit, as if he himself was the one that harbored all the problems they had. He felt a rush of gratefulness to Nakatsu, who had always accepted and appreciated him for who he was. That was a rare thing. Mizuki was like that too and he was looking forward to seeing her again. He hoped everything would work out, that no negative feelings would be generated from this encounter.

Which brought him back to this disturbing aura he saw encompassing everybody. It was centralized around Nakatsu. And, he realized as he looked up, above himself as well.

**Hem haw. I have a plan. I'm hoping this 'Oh no a dark past' theme isn't going to be too cliché. I know it happens in like every story, but I'm going to try and make Nakatsu's past actually interesting and original. And try to keep the story in the present as much as I can. **


	2. Smoke Signal

Umgesh de bork

**Umgesh de bork. Oh, and I'm pretending that all the students and staff from Japan can and do speak English… as a first language… **

**Ch. 2: Smoke Signal**

The airplane trip was uneventful. Nakatsu awoke after a half hour of fitful airplane sleep, jerking awake and feeling the sudden lack of Kayashima's warm yet bony shoulder pressing into his ear. The bony shoulder had been better than what welcomed his ear now, that vacuumed, empty, airless silence omnipresent on any plane. His middle hurt from twisting at a strange angle. He stayed awake after that, and spent the remainder of the flight reading a book for school and staring out the window at those white zeppelins and saucers and mackerel scales, mare's tails and even a patch of a few miles scattered with mammoth grey anvils pressed up against the bottom of the lithosphere.

He liked clouds quite a bit. He liked the ocean, he liked water, and stars and the moon and the bright blue sky and also puddles of fresh water jumping with heavy rain.

Fire made his heart sink down, tighter behind his lungs.

The sun, that was fine. It was too far away to touch you. Yeah, if you're dumb you'll get sunburn, but sunburn wasn't the same as getting your face burned off, skin bubbling and eyelids peeling away and nose melting.

Nakatsu took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. He didn't care that Kayashima was probably staring at the back of his head. He continued staring out the window, over Nanba's sleeping form, slouched against the side. Crystals were beginning to form on the inside of the two panes of window material. If the sun were facing his side of the airplane, would the crystals be melting at the same rate they were freezing?

After a while Nakatsu's ears let him know that they'd started to descend. A moment later the pilot blipped onto the system to let them know they were indeed descending, and everyone should fasten seatbelts and stow away all electronics. Nanba jerked awake with a snort, gave the seat in front of him, and then Nakatsu, a contemptuous glare, then sat up and stared out the window.

It was cloudy over Hawaii. Nakatsu could see the dead island volcanoes rising from between hazy cotton, tops of green velvet moss. They circled around towards ground, down there somewhere, and suddenly they broke through the clouds. Honolulu, out there on land, white buildings and green slopes, Nanba clapping his hand over his ear, grumbling. Nakatsu couldn't see through the window for a moment, as Nanba fussed with his belongings. He settled back, feeling the gentle descent of their plane, making his feet tingle and his back want to slip off the seat.

You forget how high you are when you fly long distance, and when you can finally make out the individual trees below you, the ground is rushing up faster, faster, but you're not really going all that much faster. The roads widen, cars grow, tiny ruffled whitecaps start looking dangerous. And then the ocean is far away and the runway is underneath you, you can see the little flowers, the blades of grass, _bump._ You've landed.

_Aloha_, said the Honolulu airport, in big, scrawling, red neon letters.

Aloha. That's like some kind of scrambled version of hello, Nakatsu reflected as they slowed and approached their dock. Alo-Ha. Ha-Alo. Haalo. Hallo.

Honolulu was small. The whole _island _must be small. From above it looked tiny, nothing like the towers and skyscrapers and monstrous city of Osaka. In Osaka you walked down the street and forgot which planet you were on. There was no longer any evidence that the city was built in the middle and on top of nature. Below you, paved road. Above, buildings scraping the sky, neon signs blinking and flashing, everything so _big_. What book had be been reading on the way over here? Some American author, Ray Bradbury. _Fahrenheit 451_. Why was he thinking this stuff? He blamed it on Bradbury.

By the time they arrived in San Francisco, it was 10:30 am. Night had come and gone while they flew. Whether they'd lost or gained time, Nakatsu didn't know, didn't care to find out. He was tired.

They were herded off of the plane, down the connection, into the lobby, down the stairs, and down to the baggage claim. Everyone was silent, brains buzzing gently and slightly painfully with lack of sleep and food. Hair was tousled, eyes struggling to look awake.

Umeda glanced over the bunch, shaking his head and amused by the fact that this mangy group expected to be putting up a fight in the competition. And he had no doubt that they'd have success, in some form or another. They just needed sleep. Sleep in the TropicInn six blocks away. Made no sense, of course. California was more of a desert than the tropics. He'd rather stay in a DesertInn.

He rubbed his hands over his face. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep on either flight. He'd either been too busy worrying about what that wretched woman back in Osaka was doing with his office, worrying about all the trouble he knew the students were bound to get into here in America, or worrying about the fact that their hotel wasn't three miles from Las Manos del Fuego, a festival of fire, kicking off today late in the evening.

How did he know that? Umeda worried about these things. He told himself it was part of his job.

Nakatsu, Kayashima, Nanba, and Noe ended up in a room together. A bad match, but not unexpected. The hotel they stayed at had 23 floors and all four of them found it in their sleep-deprived heads to be thankful for the invention of the elevator, for their room was on the 20th.

Nanba stepped into the room first, walking to the closest bed and dropping his suitcase. He gestured to Kayashima.

"You and Nakatsu over there, me and Noe here." Kayashima and Nakatsu lugged their stuff a final few meters.

"Man, I'm so tired. Are we doing anything today?" Nakatsu asked after flopping over onto the bed.

"We've got three hours, then we have to meet down in the lobby."

"Why?"

"Don't know. Get your arm off my side of the bed." Kayashima threw Nakatsu's invading appendage back onto his own side.

The phone rang. Noe reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" He listened. He nodded. "Sure," and he hung up.

"Nakatsu, there's someone to see you at the front desk."

"Who is it?"

"The lady didn't say." Nakatsu sat up, eyes wide. Mizuki! Who else would it be? He looked at Kayashima, who looked incredulous.

"I'll bet it's Mizuki! I'll bet she called Sano's room too! Come with me, Kayashima!" Nakatsu sprung from the bed, ignoring the little twang in the back of his mind that said, no, it's not Mizuki, she'd want to see everyone at the same time… With Kayashima hard on his heals he flew out the door, down the hall, found the elevator, stepped inside.

"Nakatsu," said Kayashima, sounding as if his voice was treading thin ice, "I don't think its Mizuki."

"Why not?"

"Doesn't… It doesn't feel right. I'm…" Kayashima stared at the ceiling. Wondering if he should say what he wanted to say. Truth was, the aura he'd seen back in Japan before boarding the airplane had gotten stronger, brighter right now. Could it be Mizuki would provoke such an aura? He wouldn't be surprised if the re-meeting of Mizuki, Sano, and Nakatsu would once again stir emotions and turn thoughts inward. Maybe that's what the aura meant.

The elevator doors opened up into the lobby. Nakatsu stepped out, looking around, an almost worried look on his face. Kayashima followed, unsure, nervous, slightly confused. They made their way to the desk, still looking around.

"Hi, I'm Nakatsu. Was there someone waiting for me?" The lady behind the counter pointed to their side, at a row of chairs.

"Yes, sir, right there, the man in the hat." She went back to typing. Nakatsu and Kayashima turned around. The man was wearing a black fedora, which dominated his entire person and Kayashima was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to even notice what this man looked like until he took off the hat.

"Who's that?" Kayashima asked Nakatsu out of the side of his mouth, as the man caught sight of them, smiled, and rose.

"I have no idea," responded Nakatsu, disappointed and puzzled.

"Ok, well, I'll…" Kayashima floundered, wondering what to do – leave Nakatsu alone with this man, with all these strange auras bouncing about, or stick around and watch from a distance? "I'll wait by the elevator." Nakatsu grabbed Kayashima's shoulder.

"No, no, wait a sec." The man now stood before them, beaming at Nataksu.

"Suichi Nakatsu," he said, as if Nakatsu were a long-lost nephew. He held out his hand. "My name is Edward Billings." Nakatsu tentatively shook the offered hand.

"Hello… should I know you from somewhere?"

"No, probably not. But I definitely know of you. I'd like to take a short walk, if you don't mind. There are things I'd like to talk about." Nakatsu looked uncertain.

"Ah… talk about what?" Billings glanced at Kayashima, then leaned in towards Nakatsu, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Nakatsu, I'd like to talk to you about your mother." His voice was low and gentle when he said it and Nakatsu's face barely registered any new emotion – perhaps just a shadow of defense – but Kayashima watched as his aura flared up, strong and fiery.

"In private," he continued, casting a half-glance at Kayashima. Billings turned to Kayashima then.

"No offence meant, of course – you must be Nakatsu's friend?" Kayashima nodded slightly, still watching Nakatsu, who hadn't moved.

"Well… Let's… just… step outside for a moment. Nakatsu?" Billings gestured out the door. Nakatsu didn't move. So unlike him to be frozen. "Nakatsu, this is really quite important for me. And for you. Just for a moment, just outside these doors."

Nakatsu grudgingly took a step towards the door, following the man who tugged him along. Kayashima stared after them, wondering, as ever, what was going on. He didn't follow and Nakatsu didn't beckon for him to do so. Kayashima did, however, take a seat in the lobby, facing the doors. He watched as the man, true to his words, stopped just a ways from the exit, still had his hand on Nakatsu's shoulders. Nakatsu watched the man closely as he talked; the fedora came off and Kayashima found that he still couldn't pick out any determining features. Middle-aged, brown hair. Looked fairly sincere. And from the look on his face, he was saying something pretty sincere too. Nakatsu was slowly transitioning from confusion to mild surprise to subtle disgust. After a moment Nakatsu said something, looking a bit apologetic and very sad. He turned around and headed back indoors. The man only watched, as if Nakatsu had just run him over and left him to die in the road.

Kayashima stood up and intercepted Nakatsu on the way to the elevators. He didn't ask what had happened – he figured if Nakatsu wanted him to know what was going on, he'd tell him. They rode the elevator in a strange, muffled silence, up to their room and into it, where Noe and Nanba lay in bed, hanging off opposite edges, flipping through magazines.

"Wasn't Mizuki, eh?" asked Nanba, in a surprisingly serious tone. Odds were he was disappointed - it seemed she was liked by nearly everyone. Nakatsu shook his head and started to riffle through his suitcase. Nanba and Noe went back to their magazines and Kayashima pretended to be highly interested in his fingernail, while surreptitiously watching Nakatsu from the corner of his eye.

A few minutes after quiet had descended on the room, Nakatsu sighed, got up, and pushed his way out the balcony door. The curtain swished shut behind him and the door clicked quietly afterwards.

Kayashima was going after him. Give him a moment, then join him outside. Something was most obviously going on, and Kayashima wanted to help. He wasn't sure Nakatsu would want help but he'd at least go stand awkwardly next to him.

He opened the door. He was hit with a very striking scene.

The sky was split diagonally above them – above and behind them the stars tried to glitter through the city light, a brave few sharp piercing rays shining down. Beyond that, in front of them, a thundercloud was forming. The city lights highlighted this skyscape, grey clouds shaded dark blue and tiny flickers of lightning way up, obscured in the storm. Nakatsu stood at the railing looking for all the world like some demonic warlord festering and boiling over his problems, hands spread out and braced against the wrought iron, shoulders hunched, staring down on his domain.

A few blocks away there was a park, and it was on fire. The peasants leapt and whooped amidst the inferno; some breathed it, some tossed it, some led it around on a leash trying to tame it.

"What is it?" Kayashima asked, joining his friend by the edge.

"Manos del Fuego. Hands of Fire." Kayashima could smell the smoke from there, watched a tower of the grey stuff rise into the sky from the center of the festival like the arcane summoning of something beyond words, monstrous and wild.

.

.

.

**But it's not King Kong, don't worry. **


End file.
